Lion City Youth Jazz Festival 2021 Presents its Finale Concert: The Count and The Duke

Lion City Youth Jazz Festival 2021 Finale Concert: The Count and The Duke will be presented on April 24, 2021.

The Lion City Youth Jazz Festival (LCYJF) was launched in 2017, with the aim of helping local youth musicians grow in depth and skill, and to welcome new musicians to join the burgeoning jazz scene in Singapore.

Focusing on nurturing the talent and developing the skills of youth musicians under the tutelage of international jazz legends and prominent professional jazz musicians specially invited to be their mentors, the Festival comprises a series of intensive rehearsals and workshops culminating in a Finale Concert on the last day of the festival.

The previous LCYJF Finale Concerts have received much acclaim, with prominent jazz fans describing the concerts as "world-class jazz performances." This year's festival will be extra special as we are holding it in conjunction with the 2021 commemoration of UNESCO International Jazz Day, which falls on 30 April and is the culmination of Jazz Appreciation Month in April.

This year's Finale Concert repertoire features the music of two jazz legends of swing, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Some of the songs featured are "Take the 'A' Train," "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "The Very Thought of You," to name a few.

Because of the current COVID-19 restrictions, our international mentors and a few of our Singapore-based mentors will join us virtually in a hybrid concert, together with the rest of our local mentors and youths who will be performing onstage at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC).

The Finale Concert will be led by Music Director Jeremy Monteiro with Associate Music Director Weixiang Tan. The hybrid (live and virtual) concert stage will feature outstanding youth musicians from the Jazz Association Singapore Youth Orchestra (JASSYO!) performing with Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Carmen Bradford, Solo Trumpeter and Leader of the Count Basie Orchestra, Scotty Barnhart, US-based jazz Trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, Saxophonist Julian Chan (Malaysia), Guitarist Joe Darin (Thailand), and from Singapore, JASSYO! Youth Leader and Flautist Rit Xu, Saxophonist Shawn Letts, Trombonist Regan Wickman and Drummer Tamagoh.

Also joining JASSYO! onstage are featured mentor and vocalist Alemay Fernandez, JASSYO! Youth Leader and Bassist John Koh, and our other mentor from Singapore, Trumpeter Benny Goh.

Learn more at https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/lion0421.